[PayneTrain]

^The game is already the most strategically deep game in the modern era (in my opinion), so I can understand why the seeding system (not ranking system) is the most coherent one in recent memory.

I remember posting last year that anyone who built a strategy to put them in a position to make educated, well-informed picks has the advantage over someone who is the 1-seed. If a regional does not have a super-elite team at the event, the eliminations are wide open. Not because last year, where the bridge acted as a "great equalizer" of alliance scores, but because robot diversity is probably the biggest it's been in the modern era.

Not only are regionals getting deeper in quality, but also deeper in quantity. Not too long ago most regionals would cap out in the 50s with a few exceptions, now regionals with fewer than 40 teams are becoming rare birds (maybe because FRC is rapidly approaching a point where it can't add more events because it can't provide 6 more CMP bids while CMP is still under the 400 cap).

I know that heading into a Week 3 regional I will probably lecture to the scouting team more than the recommended dosage to make sure the team has solid data to work off of. So many good alliances are formed on lucky or well educated picks that other seeds ignored.